How should Carlo react ?

[sizzler85]

We have been seeing the team battered by injuries and the results affected by out of form players . It is worrying that we have so many important players either injured or not completely fit . But difficult times need different ways !

How should we react to the slump in form or these indifferent results ? More importantly , What do you reckon should Carlo do differently ?

I personally feel he could do away with the omnipresent 4-3-3 formation for now atleast until we have our strongest midfield back . We have seen some managers change the flow of play because of injuries or lack of personnel . Carlo should probably think about changing the formation . We are too dependent on our left side and for this season , other teams are over crowding their players on the wings to clip our wings .

Attacking through our right side has become rare and almost no attacking moves through the center of the pitch . We must also trust our younger players for under performing senior players .. No point not playing them when the Kalous and the Ramires' are not playing to their potential . I would atleast not feel let down if we lose playing young players . Surely if we don't trust our younger players in the weeks to come , their confidence will take a big beating ..

Come on Carlo ! Do something !

[Tim]

You say that, but we actually played well yesterday, certainly well enough to win the game, we just had f**k all luck in front of goal. I'm not sure further destablising the team with a new formation really makes much sense.

[Nibs]

Not sure about new formations but different personnel are definitely needed.

We have the ideal opportunity in the Zilina game to experiment. IF Carlo puts out the same old faces who have failed in recent matches then I will start to question what the f**k he is up to.

We are a bit thin on the ground but any fool can see that when you play Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov in the same starting 11, it won't work and the team will struggle.

Kalou. Good squad player. Often makes a decent impact when he comes off the bench but he is NOT good enough and never will be to start week in week out.

Lets give Bruma, McEachran, Kakuta, Stuuridge and Borini a start in Tuesday's match. See what they are capable of and show a bit of faith in them.

[54veteran]

Katuta has to be worth a try when the bus is parked, as it was at B'ham. He's the most likely to unlock the defence, or at least be tripped on the edge of the box. Maybe he'll turn out to be another SWP, but defenders do get nervy facing that kind of player. Sturridge was so not the answer on this occasion.

[Randy36]

The loss to Birmingham couldn't have come at a worse time. We did not deserve to lose. When Drogba is on song we usually don't have to worry. Remember the game against Wolves. We had two shots on target the entire game and Drogba slotted both into the net. He has not been the same player since he contracted malaria. So he has been a major factor in our recent demise.

All this gloom and doom is unacceptable. The league is much srtronger this season so I'm not surprised at this sort of result. It's an issue of confidence not quality. Once Terry, Lampard, and Essien get back and Drogba returns to full fitness things will begin to gel again.

There is no need for Carlo to change tactics nor formations when the team is creating chances time after time. I still believe we will win the league again this season as we have the most talented squad and best manager in the Premiership.

[Ben]

Agree 443 is not working, especially when Zirkhov & Ramires are making up the 3. I think Ramires will improve in that position, but it will take a while. Yuri is not suited to that position at all (far too lightweight). I would rather Malouda (who played well y'day) played in the 3 & Yuri was further foward.

I don't really see what Sturridge has done to get a chance above Kakuta or Borini (who have both apparantly turned down contracts).

I'll be very interested to see how Bruma gets on in the week. We are going to need him.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Carlo is on the ball:

Ancelotti said: "We got a positive reaction after the Sunderland game. We played good football, we played for 90 minutes with good spirit and with a good attitude. I don't have to say anything to my players. We were disappointed with the result at Birmingham because we deserved to win.

"But we have to stay confident and look forward to the next game. It is a difficult moment but we don't have to lose confidence. We were unlucky but we have to know this is football and these things can happen

"It was a fantastic performance by Foster. He saved a lot of opportunities from us and congratulations to him. But it is important to maintain belief in our play, in our quality, in our ability.

"If we are able to play like at Birmingham every game, with this attitude, I think we can win. The problem is to play every game like that."

That is exactly what he needs to be saying. Play like that again, and any other day, you will win. The trouble is we have Zilinia, Newcastle away, and then Man Utd, Spurs and Arsenal. Unless we are going to hit six past each of them, its hard to see how we will be back in top form before December.

But this is exactly where a crafty manager like him wants to be. Get us back to playing well (despite losing, check), get the goals coming again (two games for that), and face bigtime opponents who might think we have become a pushover or a club in crisis in Dec. The scousers played the game of their lives against us when we were the blue machine. 4 matches later and we are a club in crisis. If these other big clubs come in underestimating us, then all the better for us.

[ws6blue]

short-term............

bring in some younger players Tues - definitely brouma and sturridge, and maybe give borini a run 2nd half, need to give the players a start and see what they can do

medium-term............

we played BCFC off the park yesterday, so same team for magpies, with some luck we can win that one (their form is up/down so hard to predict)................get JT & Lamps back, essie too and we can start again

long-term............

need to get cover at centre-back and holding midfield in january, not necessarily a £15m+ player, but some cover who can do a job when we need it

[Hutch]

There wasn't much wrong on Saturday. No way in this world did Birmingham deserve anything out of the game. Yet they came away with all three points. How this actually happened has been discussed elsewhere. As someone wrote, chances that were flying in early in the season, were hitting the woodwork, going just wide, being well saved. And their goal was down to a single defensive lapse that Birmingham managed to take advantage of. This was also their only either shot on or off target throughout the entire game. If the game had been drawn it would have gone down as an incredibly lucky point for them. As it is, the result was nothing short of miraculous.

Enough from me, from the official site, here's what Carlo Ancelotti has to say:

ANCELOTTI: RESPONSE AND RESPONSIBILITY

Carlo Ancelotti is prepared for the pressure that builds when a Chelsea side wins one game out of four and remains confident it will be eased quickly.

The Italian has no shortage of experience having spent many years contesting one of the big leagues in the world and that has included much mini-crisis management along the way.

Saturday's defeat at Birmingham meant back-to-back league defeats for Chelsea for the first time since the end of the 2005/06 season. Back then we had already won the title so for consecutive league defeats when there was still plenty to play for, the calendar must be turned to February and March 2003.

Ancelotti acknowledges the current form raises questions.

'I am prepared for criticism and this is the life of the coach,' he said after the weekend's defeat.

'When the team doesn't win, there is more responsibility on the coach but this is normal. This is my job for the team. I am not having good results so it is normal to have more responsibility, but I do not have a problem with the supporters and I have no problem with this.

'It is very difficult every year,' he added, 'and you have to move on from a difficult moment.

'We are capable of moving on quickly because it is true we played really bad against Sunderland but against Birmingham we played well.

'We know very well that we have lost three games in four and this is not good for Chelsea. For this reason I have to take responsibility but I am not worried about the team because I think we will be able to play good football again, and we have look forward to the next games against Zilina and Newcastle.'

Ancelotti compared the performance of Birmingham keeper Ben Foster on Saturday to that of Joe Hart in the corresponding fixture last season that ended goalless. This season one defensive lapse allowed the home team their one genuine chance of the game which they took, but the rearguard is not singled out for blame.

'You can say we missed John Terry against Sunderland because I had to change much of the back four but against Birmingham we had Alex who played good football and the back four played a good match.

'We are losing games because in four games we scored just one goal so we have to improve on that.'

Ancelotti also dismissed any suggestion that changes to the coaching set-up affected the weekend result. He was asked after the game if such changes could have happened at rival clubs such as Manchester United but made it clear his desired role is to be the team's coach, rather than concerning himself with the organisational details of the rest of the club.

'You cannot compare me with Alex Ferguson, it is a different position,' he pointed out. 'Ferguson has total control of the team whereas I am in charge of the technical direction.'

LINK

[Zola]

We need to react with a solid stuffing handed out to Zilina and Newcastle this week.

Thats how he and the team should react.

[BigIzz]

The loss to Birmingham couldn't have come at a worse time. We did not deserve to lose. When Drogba is on song we usually don't have to worry. Remember the game against Wolves. We had two shots on target the entire game and Drogba slotted both into the net. He has not been the same player since he contracted malaria. So he has been a major factor in our recent demise.

All this gloom and doom is unacceptable. The league is much srtronger this season so I'm not surprised at this sort of result. It's an issue of confidence not quality. Once Terry, Lampard, and Essien get back and Drogba returns to full fitness things will begin to gel again.

There is no need for Carlo to change tactics nor formations when the team is creating chances time after time. I still believe we will win the league again this season as we have the most talented squad and best manager in the Premiership.

All of this is true. Matches like Birmingham happen, sometimes a team just can't score. It came at a terrible time though. The last thing that we need is panic.

[ozboy]

We haven't been scoring enough goals and in fact not creating enough chances lately. Ramires has clearly improved since the first game of the season, his passe are now itting the marke but still the midfield doesn't have the crisp punch it had when Lampard and Ballack and Essien were there.

Drogba and Anelka are both off form. That happens to strikers all the time. And they are getting older. Last season we worried like hell about the age of the star players and this seaons its worse except they are being backed up by the squad players and the young guns who have basically yet to turn potential into performance.

So we didn't buy enough during the offseason, certainly nowhere near enough to win the champions league in my opinion. It may well take us 2-3 seasons to sort the team out.

On top of that we have the suprise of wilkins leaving for public reasons that don't make sense. Now we have reports that Ancelotti is feeling pressure, and don't fore hi s Dad died recently.

Ancelotti has about 4 choices I guess.

1. Change the formation. We could go back to 5 in the midfield and go all defensive for a while. I could live with that, but it isn't a long term solution.

2. Change the personnel. There aren't that many choices. Kakuta or Sturridge could be started up front for two or three games in a row. Maybe Josh could start in the midefield although I wouldn't do it myself and Essien should be back in a game or two.

3. Buy some new players in January.

4. Make the existing system and team work better by just tweaking a few things and giving the guys the confidence to know they have the support of the caoach. somee of the things we could try include keeping Malouda in the centre of midfield. Having Mikel cut out his long balls (too slow) and drive forward a bit more for return passes, making sure ZhirkoveRamire s doesn't get caught in possession.

Me I'd probably go for a comination of 4 and 2.

[sizzler85]

We are not going to worry about the formation when the going gets good .. What I don't like is sticking with the same formation when we don't have the personnel to match it or the opposition teams have found a way to stop our attacking moves .

Those times surely need a positive change .. It is not faulting Carlo but when I see other teams change their way of play according to the opposition , I feel let down that our team doesn't try that during testing times .. !

[Nibs]

We are not going to worry about the formation when the going gets good .. What I don't like is sticking with the same formation when we don't have the personnel to match it or the opposition teams have found a way to stop our attacking moves .

Those times surely need a positive change .. It is not faulting Carlo but when I see other teams change their way of play according to the opposition , I feel let down that our team doesn't try that during testing times .. !

Totally agree.

What we seem to lack (or Carlo hasn't yet found) is a real impact player. Carlo has a habit of playing our strongest line up every game - which is great when, like at the start of this season and last season, we were beating teams 6-0.

But when games are tight at 0-0 or when we are losing, we struggle to change the game. This season, when we have gone behind in a match, we invariably end up losing. It's times like these I would like to see Carlo more proactive and throw a Kakuta and Sturridge on with half an hour to go. Changing a full back is not usuually the answer!!

What's the point of having these players if you aren't gonna use them or if you're only prepared to give them 10 minutes?

Kalou always seems to perform better when he comes on as sub so for me, 9 times out of 10 I would not start him and have him on the bench.